The Start of Something New
by nikiki500
Summary: Rachel is tired of her treatment at William McKinley High School. What will she do when Santana decides to mess with her? Puckleberry mentioned. Rated T for slight cursing ,mention of alcohol, and fighting.


The Start of Something New

Rachel p.o.v.

Rachel was standing at her locker on a typical Wednesday morning. There weren't many people in the hallway, as she came early. At the moment, she wasn't worried about being slushied. There was still another half hour till school started, so she was organizing her 'Emergency Kit' and checking over her homework. Luckily, she hadn't needed to use her kit the past week, but she wasn't stupid to think that it was gonna last.

Before she knew it, the bell rang, signaling that it was 8:00. Kids started filling the hallways, going to their lockers and talking to friends, filling up the 15 minutes till first period began. Internally cringing and wincing a bit, she crowded closer to her locker, trying to stay hidden. She really didn't want to be talked to by anyone, let alone slushied. But as soon as she saw Santana Lopez walking with some baby Cheerios, she knew her day would start bad. 'Why isn't Noah here already?' she wondered.

To anyone else, it would be weird if they knew she was wondering where Noah 'Puck' Puckerman was. Just a year ago, he was the number one person throwing slushies in her face. But what people didn't know, was that Noah and Rachel have known each other their whole lives. They had become estranged in their pre-teen years when Elijah Puckerman took off, taking most of their money and all of Noah's trust in anyone. She had understood his avoidance, and hoped that he would come back to her soon, but he never did. And by the end of their sophomore year, she had basically given up hope that she would get her 'No-No' back, and that she would ever have friends.

She started to make plans to fill her days with lessons, rehearsals, classes; anything she knew would keep her mind off her sadness. She would audition for every play in Ohio, since she knew her fathers would take her, and at least one would stay with her if she made it. She had just finished securing her place at a theater camp in Indiana when there was a pounding on her door. Puzzled, she walked through her house towards the door, the pounding starting again. Right before she got to the door, it stopped. Peering through the peep hole on her toes, there was no one there. Against her gut instinct, she opened the door, and sighed. There, on her porch, was Noah, passed out, with a bottle of tequila at the tips of his fingers.

Opening the door all the way, she grabbed him under the shoulders, and dragged him in the house. After a bit of a struggle, she got him on the couch. Exhausted, she collapsed into her daddy's arm chair and put her head in her hands. "What happened to you No?" she whispered into the air. A few moments later, she placed a glass of water and some Advil on the coffee table where he would see when he woke up. Going back to the kitchen, she started making some hangover safe food, knowing he would be starving, and while it cooked and/or stayed cool or warm, she worked on some lyrics floating through her head.

When he woke up, she told him under no such circumstances could he do that to her again. Surprisingly, he agreed, and that day they started working on what was almost lost so long ago. Over the rest of the summer, Noah (not Puck) got Rachel to open up again. They hung out every single day, spending the nights at each other's houses like they were 10 again. He even stayed the full week when her dads went on their yearly cruise. Noah taught her to play all his video games (even if they were overly violent) and how to properly defend herself (it will be beneficial for when she's in New York). He even let her show him some meals he could fix for him, his mom Deborah, and his sister Norah.

As they spent more time together, their feelings grew stronger. As far back as he could remember, he'd always wanted to be with Rachel. Even though these last few years she made him want to set himself on fire, he knew deep inside that he would be with her. But for Rachel, she just thought she was attracted to him. When she looked back to their time spent as kids, she realized that all those times she made him be her husband when they played house, she wanted it to be real. So after a month and a half of reconnecting, being best friends again and awkward moments, Noah asked her out. And of course she said yes.

A locker being slammed broke her from reminiscing. They had been together for just over a month, and they were still best friends. Nothing really changed except now when they were bored, they could make out instead of watching mind numbing TV or listening to music. No one really knew they were together, but they weren't hiding it. Rachel just didn't have any friends to tell, and Noah had mostly cut himself off from the people who were bad influences on him. One person who wasn't exactly happy about it was Santana. During the summer, she had been calling Noah non-stop, and had even come to his house a couple times. When school started back, she had turned to giving Rachel dirty looks, and intensely staring at her when they shared a class. Noah said she even cornered him the second day of school, demanding to know why he hadn't answered any calls. All he was able to do was spout a random excuse and dip into his English class. Now, he just avoids any places she might go and the main hallways unless he has to.

Santana p.o.v.

Santana knew something was going on. Puck had avoided her all summer, he was never home when she went by, and he even sent all her calls to voicemail. She had thought for a while that he had basically dropped off the face of the earth until she saw him at the mall with another girl. She would have gone up to them and went off, but she was with Brittany, and she didn't want to upset the bubbly blonde. Later, they saw them again, and this time Brittany pointed out that he was with Rachel. She didn't think it was true, but when she saw them leaving together during the first week of school, she had her proof. And when she cornered him in the hall one day, he didn't even make a pass at her. He just gave her a half assed excuse and ducked into a classroom. Since when did he actually go to class?

But today would be the day where she put it to a stop. She was going to confront RuPaul and make her stay away from her man, and then humiliate her in front of the whole school. Walking into the school, she told Brittany that she would see her later, leaving her at her locker. Going around the halls, she gathered a few baby cheerios and made her way to where she knew Berry's locker was. Other students would say that before the incident, Santana looked like a lion or a tiger stalking her prey.

Reaching Rachel, she had one of the newbies knock her books out of her hands and slam her locker closed. She herself pushed Rachel, making her trip and almost bash her head into the row of lockers. Almost everyone stopped and started laughing and yelling 'FIGHT, FIGHT'. Jewfro even fought his way to the front and started filming. What she didn't notice from her looking around was that Rachel and turned around, and was getting mad. Before she knew it, she was thrown into lockers, her arm pulled behind her very tightly, and her head already throbbing with pain from the hit into the lock.

She heard a collective gasp from the crowd, and some even had their mouths open. Towards the back of the group, she saw Puck with a genuine smile on his face, and she knew that it was Berry pinning her down. Trying to move, she felt that her upper body was pinned, along with her arm and one of her legs. Santana was quickly becoming embarrassed as well as enraged.

"Treasure Trail, I swear to God if you don't let me go, I will make you wish that you were never fucking born." It was supposed to be intimidating, but all the other girl did was laugh.

"Do you really think you could make my life any worse than you already have? No, you can't, so stop trying. You're never gonna break me, and if you keep acting like this, you're gonna end up a loser, working in this town wondering what happened to your life. So do yourself a favor and leave people alone."

She tightened her grip, making Santana wince, before letting her go. She immediately turned and swung her fist at Rachel's face, but she ducked and landed a punch to Santana's face that sent her into the lockers and down to the floor. She glared up at Rachel as she backed up, Noah coming through the crowd to meet her. They looked at each other, saying something that she couldn't read.

As they started walking away, Noah, turned and said, "Oh by the way? Leave me and my girl alone. We don't appreciate the harassment and shit, okay?" He gained a slap and a look from Rachel for the curse, but other than that, they walked away with no other words exchanged, between themselves or anyone else.

They missed Brittany coming to help Santana, and her running after her when she took off crying.


End file.
